


Luck In The Spice

by Chanter



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Awesome Nino Lahiffe, Bonding, Canon Typical Chaos, Canon Typical Violence, F/M, Friendship, Gen, Magic, Male-Female Friendship, Musical references everywhere, Season/Series 03 Spoilers, WritingRainbow treat, awesome Mylène Haprèle, mouse!Mylène Haprèle
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-09
Updated: 2020-04-09
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:08:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 852
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23562829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chanter/pseuds/Chanter
Summary: There's no blood in the wire, but there is magic in the world.  That one he knows as well as both his skins, now.Set in the same universe as "And All Manner Of Things".
Relationships: Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe, Luka Couffaine & Alya Césaire, Luka Couffaine & Kagami Tsurugi, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug & Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir
Kudos: 3
Collections: Robot Rainbow 2020





	Luck In The Spice

The akuma calls himself Hotliner; someone's upset a telecoms worker from one of the longstanding companies, by the looks of the morphed outfit he's wearing and the tangle of variations on a wiry theme he's spinning at them all. Thanks very much--not this way, this gets you snarled in a loop of cable and winched up and forward-- "Second chance!" ... As he was saying, thanks very much, Hawkmoth. Viperion lands back on the cobblestones, dodges to port, dodges to port again because Multiflora's deployed one of herself in almost precisely that space, and why collide with a teammate if you can avoid it? and scans the scene from its relative edge. 

There are lies in the ballads, so the song goes, and once this is over, Luka's going to thank Mamon for that handful of rare acoustic tracks and their translated lyrics all over again (he can't quite, yet, tear it up to the degree he needs for that intricately intense guitar line, but he's getting there). There are lies in the ballads, there is blood in the wire. That's not hilarious, not even slightly, but it does fit this situation, especially if they don't nail Hotliner soon - a half-dozen loose cables smack Carapace's shield and bounce back, clack clack clack, and Viperion just barely sees a grateful Ladybug flip their turtle a thumbs up before she's diving sideways and away. No blood in the wire, he thinks, grimly satisfied, as overhead something makes a noise like a spring forced to its length and then let go - that's Chat Noir in action, he's almost sure - and the akuma roars in fury, words half distinct. 

There's no blood in the wire, not if they can help it - Viperion twists to avoid the lightningform Ryuko's latest sabre strike, chopping off an oncoming connection at arm's length - but there's magic in the world. That one he knows as well as both his skins, now. There is magic in the world, there is music in the air, there are stories in the water, there is luck in the spice - Roi Singe is new at this, but he's evidently got decent timing already, because a cheerful baritone carols a phrase, missed amid the layers of the fight, on two spoken notes, something fizzles emphatically, Hotliner lets out a falsetto squawk, and Viperion doesn't, suddenly, have to duck beneath an oncoming swinging spiral cord after all. Luck in the spice, joy in the art, no blood in the wire, and no word a lie; it's no wonder Hotliner yelped, beyond the temporary disruption of his power. That wall was absolutely not there before, and when brickwork starts materializing on open streets, it's either that Volpina person up to no good again, or--yep, Rena Rouge is on a balcony over all their heads, punching the air in glee as the akuma staggers upright, just shy of the illusion, and turns. 

And trips over the single black-spotted brick that's Ladybug's latest lucky charm. Luck in the spice, Viperion thinks, for sure, and magic in the world. The barely-visible zing of a yo-yo in motion sounds like the persistent chime of a studio monitor, almost, almost higher than audibility, but it's Carapace who snatches the violet-washed badge and lanyard from around Hotliner's neck and twists the connecting ring hard enough to tear the laminated paper partway down the middle before he throws the entire assembly into Ladybug's path. From there it's easy. 

Multiflora is one of herself again when she catches, just barely, the thoroughly dazed seventy-something who'd been a temporary villain the moment before, supporting him under a shoulder she barely reaches. Grace in the moment, luck in the spice, gallantry in the art - Viperion's improvising on the fly, chaining words into a half-conscious rhythm quite before he can stop himself, as his estimation of the team's mouse rises yet further. Carapace gets to - did that fellow just give his name as Jean-Marc? - the former victim a second later and saves Multiflora half an awkward balancing act, at least. Gallantry, exactly. Viperion's smiling under his mask, but only the soberly pleased Ryuko is close enough to notice. 

He's fairly sure their dragon is if not smirking, then at least raising her eyebrows at Roi Singe's uncoordinated, gleeful dance through the cloud of friendly magical ladybugs that's just swept the area, but--grace in the moment--he doesn't point out the detail aloud. His own joy and relief are gaining a time signature, matched to the rolling poetry in his head, but he can wait. Chat Noir and Ladybug meet in the middle of the street, familiar as a chorus, as Rena Rouge drops from her vantage point and touches down with a click, gaps the intervening distance in four long strides, and leans, just a little, against Viperion's side. She's definitely grinning, eyes on Carapace and the latest survivor, as her Miraculous chirps almost in syncopated time with Viperion and Ladybug's own. 

No word, he thinks as his gaze skates to starboard, catches Ryuko's for just a second and bounces her own approval back at her, a lie.

**Author's Note:**

> I cannot find, as yet, the scorchingly incisive acoustic version of "Lies In The Ballads" that served as the underlying inspiration for this fic. I heard it years and years ago, and will link it if I ever do track it down. The rhythm of this particular Robot Rainbow color almost immediately chimed with the song title for me, and the song itself as much as the wording pinged Luka the lyricist. The collection gets the end results.


End file.
